Hitsugaya walked briskly along the polished wooden paths that bordered and connected the large buildings of the complex coming to a stop in front of broad stone doors which throughout this whole situation had become an increasingly familiar sight. Guards stood on either side, pikes crossed to prevent entry. Toshiro only needed to give them a cold stare for them to move, as they should, since he was a Captain after all.

Once inside he walked hastily to where they were holding Kagome. Her cell was at the end of the long hallway as far from the door as they could place her, insinuating that she was the most dangerous inmate of the level. As he approached, Hitsugaya could hear Kagome talking to someone quietly but could not hear anyone else. He could tell it wasn't the normal one-sided conversation she might have with Shippou, her fox, so who was it? Who was she talking to? Eventually, Kagome's cell came into his sight but much to his annoyance, no one besides the woman herself was there. Kagome, who had stopped talking as soon as he appeared, smiled at him from her spot on the bed, the picture of innocence. She seemed relaxed, sitting crisscross 'applesauce' with Shippou curled up in her lap.

"Hey Toshiro, what's up?"

Normally such complete lack of respect would have vexed him almost to the point of anger but he found that in light of the recent news he couldn't find it in himself to mind. Kagome studied him, pleasantly surprised at not seeing the tenseness that he had shown before. She surmised that he must have come with good news.

"The council has decided to reinstate you as a Shinigami. You will be on probation for three months after which they will meet again to decide if you can be trusted."

Needless to say, Kagome was ecstatic at first until the reality of the situation set in.

She got up from her cot suddenly, dropping poor Shippou on the floor while she paced the room.

Don't get it wrong she was beyond happy to not be punished, especially for something she didn't do, she thought bitterly, but this presented a whole new set of problems for her. She wanted to clear her name, to be close to her brother again and have a purpose to her life but there were a lot of risks and to accept this blindly could spell out worse things for her. Kagome hesitated,

"Let me think about it" she replied.

Of course, that didn't sit well with Toshiro at all and he felt anger rear its head, "Think about it?! Kagome this is your only option, you don't get to think about it!" He yelled at her.

Kagome smiled ruefully, though for different reasons than Hitsugaya knew. She appreciated the concern, she really did, but she had escaped Shinigami notice for nearly twenty years right under their nose and was fairly confident in her skills for escape, as long as she wasn't on death row. It would only hurt worse if he kept making things more difficult.

"Can you come here?" she asked quietly, waving the Captain closer as if to tell him a secret.

Although he was growing increasingly frustrated with her, he complied, walking until he was almost flush against the bars staring at her through narrowed eyes. She laughed, trying to lighten the mood, "You, sir, are a grump!"

In all the seriousness she could muster Kagome motioned for him to turn his ear toward her so she could whisper whatever it is she wanted to tell him; once again he entertained her. Kagome leaned in and quickly pecked him lightly on his cheek, "Thank You" she whispered before she turned her back to him, picking up Shippou, and sitting determinedly on her cot. He jerked away from the bars of the cell abruptly as if burned, before leaving as quickly as he had come with worried thoughts and heated cheeks.

It didn't take long for Kagome to reach her decision after that. While it would have been easier for her to escape, something inside her told her she needed to stop running.

Kagome had lain for hours, cuddling Shippou and losing herself to random thoughts, waiting for someone to come and retrieve her. Unless Toshiro told them I might reject the offer she thought to herself before completely dismissing the idea. No matter how much he might be angry with her he wouldn't betray her like that. Kagome firmly believed in, if not their friendship, the Captain's sense of honor. She would go along with the plan to become a Shinigami again and no one would have to know she considered rejecting it.

Kagome waited in her cell for longer than she thought possible before she was visited again. This time it was the Captain of the Sixth Division, Byakuya Kuchiki, who came for her. Soundlessly he took out a ring of heavy looking keys and unlocked her cell. She didn't need to be told to follow as she scurried after the imposing man, Shippou at her heels.

"It has been decided that you will join the Sixth Division. I am taking you to the training fields to be tested and ranked accordingly." Kagome nodded before realizing that he wasn't looking at her and thus hadn't seen it,

"Y-yes" she stuttered out. Come on girl get it together Kagome scolded herself for sounding so meek but couldn't bring herself to break the heavy silence as they walked to the training grounds.

Previously, when she had been there with Kenpachi, the grounds were empty, looking back on it now Kagome was sure that it had been his doing since now they were filled with people, members of Squad Six milling around and talking animatedly. As Captain Kuchiki entered everything went silent and the large crowd parted to give the man space, moving into a wide circle. Amongst the crowd, Kagome was able to spot a certain head of red hair and if the Captain were not present she would have shouted the man's name just to embarrass him. Her focus returned to the Captain as he began to speak,

"Those of you here to participate in the ranking will step forward to fight individually, those of you who are not may watch at a distance". Had Kagome not been a Shinigami before, she would have been impressed with the level of obedience displayed in the Sixth Squad, however, knowing the stories of the Captain in front of her, this kind of thing was to be expected. Byakuya was famous, at least among the lower ranks, for having a strict sense of who qualified to be a part of his squad. The man in question glanced down at her with frigid grey eyes and, placing a hand inside his Captains robe, withdrew her Zanpakuto and handed it to her before turning and walking into the crowd.

Kagome was sure he would be watching from a better vantage point and chose to focus on the task at hand. The number of people who stepped up to challenge her was more than she expected but she was committed to this plan. She would become a Shinigami one way or another. As the first of the challengers stepped toward her she unsheathed her Zanpakuto and readied herself for the fight.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Bleach; all rights go to their respective owners